Sometimes we hear of tragedies and they take up very little rent-space in our minds. And there are times that a tragedy happens to a black person, and we may subconsciously dismiss it because they're "not of our world." But thankfully no one is easily dismissing the murder of a 14 year old black boy in a Panama City boot camp for wayward kids.
Briefly, a boy who was out-of-control was sent to a kid's boot camp in the hopes that it would reform him before it was too late. While he was there, a video was taken of him being beaten to death.
Strangely, the Panama City Coroner's report (which was just released yesterday) claims the boy died of sickle cell anemia, since his body was unable to staunch the internal hemorrhaging. This "diagnosis" was immediately greeted with disagreement by top medical experts and anyone with common sense. And even if the Coroner's report is technically correct (which is definately in doubt) it doesn't answer why the guards were allowed to put their hands on the boy, or beat him.
I viewed the tape with horror and disgust. If you wish to take my word for it, the brutality and lack of necessity is evident (the boy puts up little to no resistance). But if you wish to see it for yourself, click here.
Here's what we can do about it!
Please email the Mayor and every City Commissioner listed here (just click on their names), telling them what you think about this, and don't forget the City Manager. Let them know what you think needs to be done to stop this atrocity from every happening again to another child. And point out to them that there are many experts who feel that their Coroner is out-to-lunch. Perhaps it's time to find another one.
To make it easy on yourself, type up a letter in word, and do a simple cut-and-paste for each email that you send.
You also may wish to contact Governor Jeb Bush about it, as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy M. Tunnell and the Inspector General, Al Dennis. Here is their contact information.
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18 comments:
Saur,
Excellent post as usual.
Parents need to do thorough research on the camps they send their children.
My mom would always send me to Camp Keystone in Florida for 2 weeks over the summer. I always found the counselors to be quite nice.
As an adult I send my kids to camp at Meredith College in NC. I researched this camp thoroughly before I sent my children there. I actually went to the camp and observed the activities.
To be honest with you I’m not familiar with Boot Camp outside of the armed forces. I did get an e-mail concerning a Booty Camp but I think this is something different.
Thank you for posting about this, Saur.
These deaths take place in California as well, and now, thankfully, more investigations are taking place.
Have a good weekend!
This has nothing to do with sickle cell anemia. The fact is, if he wasn’t brutally beaten, he would have never bled internally. The sickle cell just made it that much complicated. This is an awful case which definitely needs to be looked into and investigated further. Why do they dismiss stuff like that so quickly? This doesn’t sit well with me at all.
Thank you for the information to write to them.
I am not sure what I see in the tape as so horrible, it looks like a kid out of control who is being taken down. All due respect, but these are some really bad kids here. Many violent, and like with similar incidents with cops, I frankly can understand the use of force when needed.
I dont see anything wrong with the medical ruling (or any reason for an expert to fabricate it) and frankly am a bit tired of people constantly jumping into conspiracies.
Also, I dont really see a beating in this video. I see guys trying to hold down a kicking teenager. At the end, I do see a few strikes to the arm. No kicks or punches to the body, and certainly no use of any hard objects. Is this video not the complete beating? I mean it is all WE have to go on, so maybe there is more?
Alex, you have a good point. I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. But I don't see the boy resisting strongly. It IS the worst of the 45-minute long tape, they tell us. And yes, there are lots of bad kids out there - many who take advantage of their kid status to get away with serious crimes. And this kid wasn't a saint; he was in for stealing his grandma's car.
But... all that being said, adults should not be allowed to place their hands on another person's children under any circumstances. To restrain a child, fine. To inflict 'punishment', not fine. And this wasn't simple restraint from MY point of view.
Deb, exactly! I read another report saying that this coroner is supported in his findings by our local coroner. Our coroner claims that there are instances of death when someone w/ sickle cell anemia exercises because it decreases that cellular oxygen content and shuts down the organs. But I'm sure physical stress and beating is equivalent to exercise...
Barbara, I've heard of other deaths and it's chilling.
Mr. Gator, thanks! ;o) as to 'regular' camp, boy did I hate it...
Saur, (somewhat off topic)
I apologize for posting twice on one topic but this is mission critical. Dillards is having a great end-of-season sale on boots. Some are as much as 75% off. I was shopping for my Spring wardrobe and couldn't pass on these end-of-season bargains.
I say we just ask Jeb to make the boot camp program good enough for him to send HIS KIDS there. Start with the one who was running around Tallahassee with the stolen prescription pads buying up xanix. And she had some crack.
Or are we supposed to have forgotten about Jeb's daughter and the crack. She got a "get out of jail free" card, and was sent to rehab. She got to stay in rehab even after she was busted IN REHAB with more crack.
How many black youths were sent to the pen for having crack? For them, rehab was a waste of funds. Then when it is a Bush with crack, rehab is the answer.
Cops, including "guards" and "correctional officers" are never wrong. When it appears that they are, the entire machine springs into damage control mode and goes on the offensive. I have seen it and experienced it too many times.
I am of the opinion that the majority of cops and other similar authority figures are genuinely doing their job because of a desire to be of service to their fellow man - they want to help. Therefore, one may conclude that it is a small minority that gives the rest a bad name. However, this is only part of the story...
The real problem is not the "bad" cops, the problem is that all the "good" cops not only look the other way, they actively protect their "brothers" because of some arcane "code of silence." It extends, to some degree, throughout the ranks of many "public" employees. So how "good" are these "good" cops?
It's a rhetorical question.
~Mike
But dont these guards have the permission to physically restrain them?
I am just saying, if a kid is freaking out and they try to hold him down, whats the crime? They have to deal with violent kids all the time, and they are tasked with doing it at a time when other more PC Hippy methods have failed.
Alex -
Ya, Rodney King got what he deserved. And the cops that did it? I don't know which video tape you saw, but it is hard to be ok with what happened, yet the LA Police - to the man, were. Just one example among many - most we will never hear about due to the excellent job the police do to shield themselves from the law. Police abuse is real, but if you want to keep your head in the sand, just hope the police don't come by, get "suspicious" and yank it out.
~Mike
Sorry Saur, without seeing the rest of the tape, I am uncomfortable with the judgment against the police. The one cop fell on him as he was pulled loose from the pole, and there was some striking of his right hand just previous to his total collapse. I am not saying that there wasn't brutality here that needed to be punished, but I didn't see it from the tape. We do all see things through different lenses. I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I didn't see it in three viewings of the tape.
Maybe althouse saw a different tape. I dont want to offend anyone, but I feel like people have a problem when black men are fallen upon by white cops or other officials. Hate to break it to yall, but sometimes force is justified.
Althouse, tell me what part of the video shows excessive violence? I see a wild struggling kid who is doing a good job at pusing 5 guys around.
I was talking about the Rodney King beating in LA. I didn't see the video linked in saurs post. My Mac doesn't do Real Media. I don't know if that incident exhibited excessive force or not. My point is that police abuse is a real. It happens all the time. OK, not news. The PROBLEM is the institutional cover up that ALL cops engage in, even the "good" ones. The question them becomes, how "good" are they, really??
My point is, you assume there was abuse before you even watched the video. Because when ever a cop is accused of abuse (particularly when it is a white cop and black man), or when ever a man is accused of rape, they are presumed to be guilty. Yet I know you would be the first to complain if a poor african american were accused of a crime and people jumped to the conclusion that he is just another criminal.
I have now just seen the raw, 30 min video. The one linked here is highly edited, and done in a manner that destroys the context of the event.
Most of the video actually shows them carrying him carefully, placing him on the ground, trying to help him walk, and having a nurse inspect him several times. I guess if you edit and carefully select the interesting parts, you get what we see above.
But where is the sexy story in: "Troubled boy dies from sickle cell complications despite help from those around him and a nurse."
No, this one sells: "Black boy beaten to death by white redneck crackers."
Alex,
Perhaps I was not clear. Allow me to elaborate. I did not see the video and therefore made no judgement as to the actual case that saur documented. I was merely using it as a segue to make a commentary on police abuse in general. I made no distinction as to race. In fact, police abuse may or may not be racially motivcated. Furthermore, the jist of my comments were not aimed at the abuse per se, but rather the institutional systematic covering of the police by the police.
There are indeed times where aggressive police action is warranted and the case in Florida may have been such an instance, but I have seen to much to give the police a blanket pass on abuse. Independant oversight is a must - and a concept that meets with universal disdain by the police. Why? If everything is justified, what do they have to fear?
I'm done.
~Mike
God bless you, Saur.
Teen boot camps are really effective in fixing attitude problems as well as helping teens with emotional growth. But before sending an unruly teenager to boot camp, make sure that the camp has the best interests of you and your child in mind. It's important to know what these camps actually are, and how effective they might be in helping you're troubled teen.
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